Surgical staples to close incisions or wounds in body tissue are well known in the art, as are surgical stapling apparatus for applying the staples, for example, see U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,014,492, 4,043,504, 4,265,226, 4,375,866, 4,399,810, 4,407,286 and 4,607,638.
The surgical staples have a U-shaped configuration with an elongated or broad base portion, relatively square or slightly curved corners and two relatively shorter legs perpendicular to the base connected thereto at the corners and terminating at the other end in a sharpened, skin-piercing point. The staples are typically applied by a stapling apparatus wherein a group of same are held in the apparatus and advanced toward an anvil by a staple pusher having an end with a generally U-shaped recess. The base of the U-shaped recess in the staple pusher is broader than the anvil, but not as broad as the base of the U-shaped staple. When the staple reaches the anvil, the staple pusher causes the staple to bend or be deformed around the anvil into an open-sided, substantially O-shaped configuration by bending the staple at two points along the elongated base portion. This procedure can be referred to as forming the staple. As this is taking place the sharpened points of the staple enter the tissue on opposite sides of the incision or wound and draw the tissue together. When the staple has been fully formed, the staple pusher is retracted and the stapler is removed by sliding the anvil out from within the staple. The staple remains within the tissue to hold the tissue together during healing and is removed after healing by a staple remover.
It is desirable to provide an improved surgical staple configuration which permits easy feeding and orientation of the staple and promotes ease of forming with the tissue space.
Accordingly, it is a principal object of the present invention to provide an improved surgical staple configuration.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide improved surgical staple configurations which enable easy feeding and orientation and which promote ease of forming within the tissue space.
Further objects and advantages of the present invention will appear hereinafter.